The Vessel, Interactive Art Piece, Coming To New York City’s Hudson Yards

A permanent art installation called the Vessel will soon be erected in a new public space in the Hudson Yards neighborhood of New York City.

The Vessel In Hudson Yards

The Vessel, a “geometric lattice of intersecting flights of stairs,” will rise up 46-feet from the Public Square at Hudson Yards. Designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape in collaboration with Heatherwick Studio, the Vessel was conceived of as a meeting place for New York locals and tourists alike.

Thomas Heatherwick, the founder of Heatherwick Studio, was inspired to create the structure’s design by an unused flight of stairs he’d come across on a building site while he was still a student.

“It caught my imagination and I loved that is was part furniture and part infrastructure,” Heatherwick explained to News Atlas. “You could climb up stairs, jump on them, dance on them, get tired on them and then plonk yourself down on them. Years later, suddenly here was an opportunity to make a new kind of landmark for Hudson Yards.”

Heatherwick added, “In a city full of eye-catching structures, our first thought was that it shouldn’t just be something to look at. Instead we wanted to make something that everybody could use, touch, relate to.”

In addition to the Vessel, the 5 acres-plus of the Public Square at Hudson Yards will include plazas, gardens and groves. It will also connect with the High Line at the Rail Yards. Upon completion, the Public Square at Hudson Yards will be “the largest network of public spaces developed in Manhattan since Central Park.” The Vessel will be its centerpiece.